


Menolly's Fair

by Lukenthius



Series: Plot Bunnies [30]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: But they did worse in the third pass so it's okay., Canonical Character Death, Gen, Menolly Impressed more fireliards than she bargained for, Plotbunnies, Screwing with the timeline a bit, Story Cuts Off Suddenly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-23 07:31:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18148943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lukenthius/pseuds/Lukenthius
Summary: What if Menolly had saved the clutch long before threadfall?What if she went back in time for Threadfall and with enough food for the whole clutch?





	Menolly's Fair

Menolly sighed as she trudged across the beach. It was good to be out of the hold. She grinned as she filled her bags with any spiderclaw she could see on the beach. There was a surprisingly large amount of them out today. By the time she got to the cove she was headed to all three of her bags were bulging. _The firelizards will love these._

She easily scaled the cliff and looked into the whole she’s helped the queen stash her eggs in. “Hello?” she called softly. A bronze face poked out and looked at her before diving back inside. Menolly climbed onto the ledge properly and looked further into the hole. She noticed it was deeper than she thought and lay down, pushing herself further in. “Hello?” a quiet chirping was her only answer.

She crawled back out and pushed the three bags of spiderclaws in before crawling in herself. “Oh! Are they going to hatch?” she looked over the nest, where the whole fare was sitting, watching the nest. She quickly pulled out her knife and began to cut away at the spiderclaws. “They’ll be hungry when they hatch.” She threw the empty shells out, making sure not to waste any meat. She kept the legs and claws as she expected the babies would like to chew on them to get the flesh out. The firelizards had started humming quietly by the time she was finished. “I’ll go get more.”

She grabbed the two empty bags and slithered out, scaling down the cliff face and rushing towards the sea. There were an unusual amount of fish swimming around and the rocks were covered in spiderclaws, all fighting for space. She filled the two bags, de-shelling as she went before turning. She glanced up at the sky and paled when she spotted silver strands falling and bursts of red and orange.

“Thread.” She whispered horrified.

She quickly scaled the cliff again, practically throwing the bags in and climbing inside herself, knocking the ledge down completely as she did so. “Oh fardles!” she looked back at the nest, where the eggs were now rocking and the fair was humming loudly. “Oh!” she gasped as one baby managed to poke a chip out of his egg and a bronze snout was poked out for a second.

Within moments another egg cracked enough to let out a foot. Soon all the eggs were riddled with cracks and bits of baby firelizard were poking out. Eventually a Bronze managed to work his way free of his egg and stumbled out of the nest. Menolly held out a piece of spiderclaw to him and he grabbed it happily.

She had no idea how long she sat there for, feeding the babies as they hatched, welcoming them all to the world and trying her hardest to not let them leave the cave. Soon all the tiny lizards were hatched, fed and curled up in the nest, sleeping. Menolly yawned wide and curled up around the nest, the fair of adults draping over her or curling up on the other side of the nest. A short nap couldn’t hurt.

Menolly woke to a burning hunger and a lot of loud cheeping. She looked over the nest and realised the babies were all hungry. “Alright, hold on. I’ll get you something.”

She climbed out from under the few browns still sitting on her and grabbed her bags, leaving the nest. She looked over and spotted the queen sitting on a rock shouting at the bronzes as they dived into the water and caught fish. She laughed and walked over, sitting on a rock and looking down at the water. So many fish, what was going on? Was it the threadfall?

She shot her hand down and pulled a fish out of the water, quickly dropping it into her bag. Alemi had taught her that. She and the fair caught a load of fish and returned up to the cave, where they fed the babies. As soon as they were all fed her hunger dissipated to a manageable level and she realised she could feel what the babies could feel.

She sent feelings of love across the bond and settled back down, watching over them.

She stayed there for a week, watching the hatchlings. On the third day the Queen and her fair vanished, leaving Menolly alone with the hatchings. Not that she minded at all. By the end of the week she’d named them all.

It wasn’t easy, what with Impressing a total of forty four all in all. There was two Golds (Beauty and Maga), seven Bronzes (Rocky, Diver, Poll, Sharpshot, Swift, Star and Lucky), nine Browns (Lazybones, Mimic, Brownie, Hazel, Scramble, Daredevil, Midget, Fidget and Arra), twelve Blues (Uncle, Cloud, Bubbles, Azimuth, Drifter, Sky, Fisher, Talon, Flotsam, Ember, Alta and Blue) and fourteen Greens (Sunny, Sandy, Pearl, Emerald, Jade, Digger, Jinx, Minx, Shelly, Nona, Ella, Melody, Aunty One and Aunty Two)

By the end of the week her Fair was catching all of their own food and Menolly was spending more time just making up tunes. It was good to be able to make music whenever she wanted, she knew her father...

Father...

“Shards! I haven’t been home in a week!” Her fair looked to her in confusion. “I wasn’t supposed to leave the Hold, we were due a Threadfall, I was a day out and thought Threadfall was the day after it had been...” she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “What am I gonna do...” she shook her head. “Well, I’ll just have to face it. You guys all stay out here. No sense in letting you all get seen by them... I’ll be back when I can!”

She ran back to the village after removing Midget from her shoulder. She slowed to a jog within sight of the hold and eventually slowed to a walk. She smiled hesitantly at those who greeted her happily.

“Good to see you girl!” “Where have you been?” “Are you alright?” “What were you doing out in Threadfall?” “Petiron’s been looking for you!”

Menolly grinned and jogged to the school house to see the Hold Harper. “Petiron?”

The old man looked over and his face broke into a wide grin. “Menolly! So good to see you. I was worried.”

She smiled. “I’m sorry. I was out for a walk and forgot Thread was due that day. I climbed into a cliff cave to avoid it but there was a rockslide. I was trapped in there. I only just managed to get out.”

“Oh, you poor dear! Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Really. I wasn’t hurt. I had collected some greens along my walk so I didn’t go hungry, much.”

The old Harper smiled again. “As long as you are okay, I’m happy.”

Menolly smiled, feeling bad for lying to him but she didn’t want to expose her firelizards. That night she’d received a lecture from her mother, Mavi, and would have gotten a thrashing from her father, Sea Holder Yanus, but thankfully Mavi persuaded the man not too.

Menolly almost has a heart attack when her fair all popped into the room from _Between_ that night and curled up with her. The next few weeks passed in a simple routine. Her Fair would leave early in the morning, before anyone else, and she would go about her day as she had done before. Whenever she could she would slip away and spend time with them. She was delighted to learn they could mimic sounds easily and quickly taught them how to make music.

She shared all of her memories of music with them and by the end of the day they were able to imitate most instrument sounds and seemed to revel in the music they could sing together. Beauty and Maga had the highest range of singing, followed by the greens, blues, browns and then bronzes. There wasn’t all that much of a difference though.

It was two weeks later that Petiron came down with a fever. Menolly spent most of her time nursing him. It was nearly a week later that Petiron turned to her. “Menolly. I fear I won’t survive this fever. Can you promise me you’ll not let go of your dreams? I’m sure you will be a great Harper. You just have to believe in yourself.”

Menolly smiled slightly, her eyes watering. She nodded and sniffed. “I won’t let you down.” She felt her fair chittering in worry, feeling her emotions. A sudden thought came to her. “Have you ever seen a firelizard?”

Petiron frowned. “No. The legends allow that they exist but I’ve never seen one. I’ve told you this. Why do you ask?”

“Do you want to see one?” Menolly smiled. She grinned at the look on Petiron’s face and with half a thought, Beauty popped into the room.

Petiron gasped his eyes widening at the sight. Menolly gently placed Beauty on the old Harper’s lap and he reached out to gently stroke her head. “She’s... oh...”

Menolly smiled gently. “Her name is Beauty. You know, I was right. Firelizards can go _Between_ like dragons. They _Impress_ when they hatch, like dragons do too, which is why people had them a long time ago. Somewhere along the lines, it must have been forgotten. Probably along with the interval. People stopped needing dragons so firelizards went out of fashion. People want them because they look like small dragons so if people don’t like dragons, they won’t want firelizards.”

Petiron smiled slightly. “I guess so. It is a good theory, but you’ll have to check the records to be sure.”

Menolly nodded and looked over at Petiron’s desk. “She can deliver a message for you if you like. To the Masterharper.”

Petiron nodded. “Aye... alright girl. Get me my writing things.”

Menolly nodded and gathered a tray and some writing things from Petiron’s desk. She carefully set everything up for the aged Harper, making sure he was comfortable, before settling down on the foot of his bed. Rocky, Diver, Swift and Midget all popped in and settled down around her, Midget taking his usual place in her hair.

Petiron wrote out a long letter and rolled it up. “Do you have any more songs written down girl?”

Menolly smiled and walked over to his desk. “You know I do, Petiron. I write them all down.” She found a few she’d written out and selected two to bring back over, two newer ones, about firelizards. “Here you are.”

Petiron wrapped the songs around his letter and then looked at Beauty. “Now what?”

Menolly chuckled and looked at Beauty. “Just give her the roll and think hard about the Masterharper. She can get the image of him right from your mind.” At least she hoped so. So far her fair had been able to go anywhere she pictured and they could carry things too.

Petiron held the roll out and Beauty took it in her forepaws. They stared at each other for several moments before Beauty leapt into the air and took off. Menolly closed her eyes and reached her mind out, to see where she’d gone.

“Well?”

Menolly smiled, seeing the inside of what she guessed was Harper Hall. Beauty dived down towards the Head Table and landed next to one of the men. She held out the roll and he took it off her. “She’s delivered it to someone.” The man opened up the roll and looked at all three sheets. He passed the two music sheets to the man on his left and started reading the letter. “It must be Master Robinton, he’s reading the letter.” She watched the delighted grin fall from his face, a serious expression replacing it only for stunned disbelief to replace it. He shook his head, a single tear escaping one eye as he read.

His lips moved silently, either mouthing the words or speaking too quietly for Beauty to hear. Menolly couldn’t read his lips through a firelizards eye. Robinton took one hand off the letter and covered his mouth, shaking his head slightly before he stood up and left the dining hall, Beauty hopping onto his shoulder as he did so.

“What did you write? He seems really sad.” She opened her eyes and looked at the old Harper.

He smiled sadly. “I told him I wouldn’t make it through the winter.” He didn’t seem likely to tell her more than that and Menolly wasn’t going to pry. They sat in silence for a few more minutes, Petiron just petting Rocky, when Beauty came back with a roll in her paws. “What’s this?” Petiron took it from her and opened it up. “Ah, he wrote back.”

Menolly sat rather awkwardly as Petiron read the letter.

Petiron smiled. “He’s coming to visit.”

.oOo.

[AN: Part of what I’d written but doesn’t fit anymore... Bold is text from the books]

**Almost as if the elements, too, mourned the death of the gentle old Harper a southeaster blew for three days, locking even burial barge in the safety of the Dock Cavern.**

**The storm gave Sea Holder Yanus too much time to brood over his dilemma. It gave him time to speak to every man who could keep rhythm and pitch, and they all gave him the same answer. They couldn’t properly honor the old Harper with his Deathsong, but Menolly could.**

**To which answer Yanus would grunt and stamp off. It rankled in his mind that he couldn’t give voice to his dissatisfaction with that answer, and his frustration. Menolly was only a girl: too tall and lanky to be a proper girl at that. It galled him to have to admit that, unfortunately, she was the only person in the entire Half-Circle Sea Hold who could play any instrument as well as the old Harper. Her voice was true, her fingers clever on string, stick or pipe, and she knew the Deathsong. For all Yanus could be certain, the aggravating child had been practicing that song ever since old Petiron started burning with his fatal fever.**

He would be partially right, as Petiron had asked her to, and she had played it a few times but couldn’t quite bear to practice it overmuch, as it gave rise to the feeling that her only human friend would not survive.

**“She will have to do the honor, Yanus.” His wife, Mavi, told him the evening the storm began to slacken. “The important thing is that Petiron is properly sung to rest. One does not have to record who did the singing.”**

**“The old man knew he was dying. Why didn’t he instruct one of the men?”**

**“Because,” replied Mavi with a touch of sharpness in her voice, “You would never spare him a man when there was fishing.”**

**“There was young Tranilty...”**

**“Whom you sent fostering to Ista Sea Hold.”**

**“Couldn’t that young lad of Forolt’s...”**

**“His voice is changing. Come Yanus, It’ll have to be Menolly.”**

**The next morning, the storm had cleared off; the skies were cloudless, the sea, calm. The burial barge had been outfitted in the Dock Cavern, Petiron’s body wrapped in harper-blue on the tilter board. The entire Fleet and most of the Sea Hold followed in the wake of the oar-driven barge, out into the faster moving current above Nerat Deep. Menolly, on the barge prow, sang the elegy: her clear strong voice carrying back to the Half-Circle Fleet; the men chanting the descant as they rowed the barge.**

**On the final chord, Petiron went to his rest. Menolly bowed her head and let drum and stick slide from her fingers into the sea. How could she use them again when they had beaten Petiron’s last song? She’d held back her tears since the Harper had died because she knew she had to be able to sing his elegy and you couldn’t sing with a throat closed from crying. Now the tears ran down her cheeks, mingled with the sea spray: her sobs punctuated by the soft chant of the steersman, setting about.**

.oOo.

Menolly looked over the new Harper. He was sat up at the head table with her parents. She was sat next to Old Uncle with clear instructions to keep him quiet. She didn’t particularly like that as it meant she had been as good as banished from the Hall entirely. She knew her parents didn’t want her to be a Harper but they were being ridiculous about it now. Leave someone else to look after Old Uncle, it was tradition for all of the Sea Holder’s family to be at the Head Table.

True to rumour the new Harper, Elgion she believed, was young and quite handsome, though Menolly wasn’t particularly interested. She divided her attention between listening to the hall and keeping an eye on Old Uncle. The sweet seaweed balls Sella had given her were useful for keeping him quiet but if she wasn’t careful he would choke on one or have too much time between them and say something.

From her position in the hall Menolly couldn’t see the guests herself but thankfully she had eyes in the sky, her fair was perched in the rafters, out of sight but perfectly able to see the hall and it was through them that she could see Harper Elgion. The symbol on his shirt indicated him a Journeyman. He must be in training for his Mastery. Beside him was a Dragonrider. Beauty bespoke his dragon and she learned they had come down to check on the Hold earlier and make sure they were still on schedule with counting the Threadfalls, knowing sometimes in smaller Holds days could slip away. He had been invited to the feast and his dragon had been supplied with some fish and other small meats. He looked decidedly uncomfortable.

Menolly popped another seaweed ball into Old Uncle’s mouth and grimaced slightly, noticing how soft and sticky they were getting. She couldn’t put the bag down or all of the other Aunties and Uncles would take one but if she continued to hold them they’d melt together and she’d probably not be able to separate them.

She glanced around and noticed no one was looking her way and sent a quick thought to Midget. He popped from between right behind her head, hiding in her hair before anyone saw him. Thankfully no one heard the tiny pop and she surreptitiously slipped him the bag. He popped into _Between_ and back out again in the same place, and she took the now much cooler bag from him. _Thank the stars for Between!_

She cast her attention back to the hall as Elgion stood up and strummed his guitar, testing the pitch (the G-string was slightly out), “Are you sure this Hall isn’t rocking?”

Menolly chuckled, guessing the gossip about him being sea-sick on the way here was true. She glanced at Old Uncle and realised he had just about finished the last Seaweed ball and so she extracted another and popped it into his mouth.

She chuckled with the rest of the hall when Elgion tuned his G-string and made the guitar moan like a seasick soul.

Her fair tittered quietly in the rafters and she sent them a mental reprimand to stay quiet.

Her father grimaced slightly. “Harper, surely you want to rest this evening. It has been a long journey after all.”

One of the kids called out from their table. “Let Menolly play!”

“Oh! Yeah! Let Menolly play!”

“Menolly’s the best!”

Menolly watched with equal amounts happiness and horror as the kids all soon started clamouring for her to play. As she looked around she realised it wasn’t just the kids, the other men and women of the hold were nodding, a few adding their voice to the call.

Menolly felt her eyes tearing up slightly at the show of faith from everyone. She knew Yanus and Mavi were constantly saying she would disgrace the hold, everyone knew that. Everyone knew they didn’t want her to play. Everyone knew they didn’t want the new Harper to know she could play.

Everyone was doing it anyway.

Menolly stood up and walked over to Elgion. “May I borrow that?” she asked, pointing to his guitar.

“Of course.” He smiled, holding it out to her.

Yanus stood up. “Now see here! No girl will be Harpering in this Hold!”

Menolly looked him right in the eye and strummed a few chords on the guitar, the beginning of a song she’d written a while ago, after she _impressed_ her Fair.

It was based on the sea so her father could hardly disapprove, though it was more occasional than shanty as there were no words. (Pirates of the Caribbean)

She could hear her Fair in the rafters but decided to let them sing. She wasn’t going to stand for anything anymore and that included hiding her fair. Everyone else could learn to live with it.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Dragon Singer](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18148481) by [Lukenthius](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lukenthius/pseuds/Lukenthius)




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